Shi Pei Pu | |||||||||||||
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![]() Shi before 1960 | |||||||||||||
Born | |||||||||||||
Died | 30 June 2009 Paris, France | (aged 70)||||||||||||
Nationality | Chinese | ||||||||||||
Alma mater | Yunnan University (University of Kunming) | ||||||||||||
Occupation(s) | Opera singer, spy | ||||||||||||
Partner | Bernard Boursicot | ||||||||||||
Children | Shi Du Du | ||||||||||||
Chinese name | |||||||||||||
Traditional Chinese | 時佩璞 | ||||||||||||
Simplified Chinese | 时佩璞 | ||||||||||||
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Shi Pei Pu (Chinese: 时佩璞; pinyin: Shí Pèipú; 21 December 1938 – 30 June 2009)[1] was a Chinese opera singer from Beijing. He became a spy and obtained secrets from Bernard Boursicot, an employee in the French embassy, during a 20-year-long sexual affair in which the performer convinced Boursicot that he was a woman. He claimed to have had a child that he insisted had been born through their relations. The story made headlines in France when the facts were revealed.
The affair inspired American David Henry Hwang's play M. Butterfly (1988), which was produced on Broadway. It was adapted as the 1993 film of the same title.